


Complicated

by TenSpencerRiedPlease



Series: Iron Hearts [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Humor, Bruce Wayne is compassionate, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Harley is a Gift, I Don't Even Know, I hate when people don't show his compassion, I have so many ideas about this universe, M/M, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Pre-Slash, Protective Bruce Wayne, Slow Build, So he is very emotional ok, This is the first time I've written this pairing, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, and i unexpectedly ended up shipping Tony and Harley, even if he thinks he isn't, i might make this into a series, it was weird
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-10-01 00:06:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10175876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenSpencerRiedPlease/pseuds/TenSpencerRiedPlease
Summary: Gotham was a city Tony avoided for a number of reasons outside of it being the most crime-ridden city in the world, but two of those reasons included a dude running around dressed as a bat expecting people to take him seriously and a creepy ass clown committing crimes. That was the stuff of nightmares.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Constance_Truggle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Constance_Truggle/gifts).



> Warnings for hinting at domestic violence and mentions of child abuse.

Gotham was a city he avoided for a number of reasons outside of it being the most crime-ridden city in the world, but two of those reasons included a dude running around dressed as a bat expecting people to take him seriously and a creepy ass clown committing crimes. That shit was the stuff of nightmares and Tony had enough of those these days without the help of some asshole with a bad green dye job trying to kill him after being in the city for a solid ten seconds. This, Tony thinks while he lies on the ground listening to some horrible laughter, is why he should have stayed to oversee his house being rebuilt in Malibu.

“First off, you’re hair is horrible, and your grills are worse. Who the fuck dressed you?” Tony asks what he _assumed_ was the Joker. Tony heard the dude was scary though, so he assumed this one was a knock off or something because no one who tattooed ‘damaged’ on their forehead was the least bit frightening.

The Joker- or his shitty knockoff- opens his mouth to say something but a dark shadow drops out of nowhere and Tony groans, cursing his luck. Batman, Tony guesses, seems to take out the Joker pretty easily. How the hell did he keep coming back then? Batman sucks as a hero, Tony has decided.

Wanting absolutely nothing to do with any of this Tony picks himself up and starts walking away, well, limping away. Crappy Joker might be a cheap knockoff but he still knew how to hit at least. He hadn’t much liked a repulsor blast from Tony though so they were even. Tony thinks he’s home free when he gets to the mouth of the ally but Batman drops down in front of him to block his way. “Are you serious? To do that you would have had to climb the building to walk twelve feet or so forward just to jump off the building for affect. That is next _level_ dramatic,” Tony says to the dark vaguely bat-shaped shadow in front of him.

“This coming from the guy who plays AC/DC while beating up villains is nothing less than a bad joke,” the Bat says in a gruff voice.

“Dude, you voice mod _sucks_. Did you make it yourself? I can tell,” Tony says, annoyed with this conversation already.

“This is my voice,” the Bat says.

“So you naturally sound like you smoke fifty packs of cigarettes a day and work as a chimney sweep? Wow, I thought you needed a new voice mod but it turns out you need a doctor.” Batman has issues with his lungs obviously and maybe he should give up the fighting thing if he was half fucking dead.

“I have a doctor. Follow me,” he says and walks off. Tony goes along because why the fuck not, he gave up the superhero thing anyways. Might as well hang out with other crappier superheroes. He had nothing better to do with his time after that ‘Civil War’ crap. He follows Batman to his Batmobile and raises an eyebrow.

“Sweet ride, I hope I’m going to steal it,” he says, helping himself to the passenger seat.

“You can try,” Batman says in his ridiculous and gruff voice.

“I’ll succeed,’” Tony says confidently.

“So you think,” Batman shoots back quickly.

“So I know,” Tony says, squeaking loudly as the Bat takes off and he’s flattened to the seat of the car. He listens to the car though, easily working out how things were working or at least gathering a good theory.

“I thought you had a thing for speed,” Batman says.

“I thought you had a thing for mystery,” Tony shoots back.

“Are you a telepath now too? I doubt you know what I’m doing,” he says.

Tony swears that he hears a tad of humor in that voice but that would mean Human Bat Dude had an actual personality. “I’m not a telepath, but I can guess that you might need my services to make you a real voice mod before you kill your fucking vocal cords,” Tony says casually. He gets a look that he knows well from the Bat because everyone gave him that exasperated look eventually.

“You do know what kind of target is on your back, right?” he asks after a long moment and the most terrifying turn in a car Tony has ever experienced. Jesus he was adventurous but he had _limits_ and _heart problems_. He keeps it cool though.

“‘Course I do. But that’s nothing new to me,” he points out. He’s always had people after him in some way or another, why should he consider this different?

“You came to the most crime ridden city in the world with a giant target on your back? You must be suicidal or itching to be a villain,” the Bat says.

“It’s not my fault Gotham’s heroes are inadequate,” Tony quips lightly.

“At least I’ve never had an international legal injunction filed against me,” Batman shoots back.

Tony accepts his defeat and nods, “point.”

They travel along in silence for a long moment before they start heading towards what looks like a very solid wall. “Hey Bat, that’s a wall we’re headed towards. At top speeds. You’re not slowing down. Oh god Batman is trying to kill me. Better than that jackass with ‘damaged’ on his forehead,” he decides, pressing himself back into his seat like that would help him in a head on collision. At least BatFucker had armor on so he’d probably live, especially if he’s enhanced. That wasn’t totally clear, whether or not the famous Bat was enhanced or an average human with extraordinary capabilities much like Tony.

“You were right, you know,” BatAss says as they drive _through_ the wall. Okay that was kind of cool but Tony wasn’t telling his jerk of a companion that.

“About what?” Tony asks, trying to calm his heart rate a little before things went south.

“The ‘Civil War’ or whatever it was the media coined. You were right. Didn’t see that coming- you’re the impulsive one.” Tony looks over at Batman- _god_ how ridiculous was that name- but he can’t get a good read on his face because of that ugly ass mask.

“We’ve stepped too far too many times. Well, mostly me but still. My actions reflect on the team and even if they didn’t no one gets to be so special they can do whatever they want with no repercussions,” Tony says. He’s thought himself special enough that he didn’t need limits too many times and he knew how it ended every time. Nothing good ever came from deciding you were above everyone else, except Steve’s hubris was only ever rewarded while Tony’s was heavily smacked down by… well everyone, including the government. Turned out all he needed to do in order to gain everyone’s approval in being a self-righteous jackass was wear a shitty rendition of the American flag.

“I’d hardly say any of your other team members are less responsible for recklessness than you. I’ve done my research; you’re just the Avenger with the worst luck. I can’t believe Captain America, the supposed epitome of reason and virtue let an extremely well trained assassin loose on the world because they were _friends_. He’s lucky that didn’t go where I thought it would,” Batman says. His voice, Tony notices, sounds far less scratchy at this point. Weird.

“Where you thought it would?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Where Ultron went,” Batman says, parking his considerably sweet ride and opening his door. Tony scrambles to follow him out; pretty sure he was in the fucking Batcave. He was so snapping a few pictures for Rhodey later.

“You thought he was going to start a genocide?” Tony asks incredulously. Yeah, that’s a bit paranoid even for the supposedly very paranoid Batman. Tony spares a glance at the car though, working out how to steal it. All he needed to do was find a way out of here…

“You’re never going to figure out how it works. And no- I anticipated a disaster akin to the one Ultron caused. How a man who went through seventy years of torture and brainwashing managed to get it together enough to not become an absolute menace to society I will never know. It was nothing more than a stroke of extremely good luck for the good Captain that nothing came of that.” Yeah, Tony always wondered about that too, but then he found out that the Winter Soldier killed his mom and he stopped caring about the man’s mental health and started wanting him dead.

“Well, he did end up tearing the Avengers apart technically. Guess that kind of counts as a disaster if you take into account all the property damage.” Damage that _he_ paid for, but he did discontinue all further insurance bills to him so they could have fun funding themselves and all the damage they caused in the future starting with the RAFT.

“I suppose so. But why did you turn on them? They were your team and you were loyal enough to drop the formalities you agreed were necessary to how you operate. It makes no sense that you’d leave them the way you did,” Batman says, head titled to the side. In this light Tony can see that Batman has striking blue eyes. He can also see the focus and judgment in them too and he resents that.

“Steve warned me about the other Winter Soldiers but I didn’t believe him because he got that from Bucky and the guy didn’t even remember his own name ten minutes before. I needed a reliable source and once I got one I knew Ross’ team would be fucked. I’ve fought with Steve for years, watched what he and Bucky did to each other. There was no way baselines would be able to contain one super solider let alone five so I went to help. Then I find out that he killed my parents, my _mother_ , and Steve knew for _years_ and didn’t tell me. We fought, he won, he crushed my reactor and left me in Siberia to freeze to death. I didn’t leave anyone behind,” he says harshly. He’s regretted that ever since he dealt with Steve’s bullshit. It never should have been him left in the cold. It wasn’t Tony that had a heart of ice that was no doubt a byproduct of Steve’s environment for the seventy years previous to being an Avenger.

Somewhere in his speech though the Bat’s body language changes from judging to sympathy to anger. He tilts his head up, “selfish prick. You don’t keep a secret like that, _not_ about someone’s parents,” he snarls and spins on his heel, leaving Tony smacking that goddamn cape out of his face. This guy had one hell of a flair for the dramatic and that was something coming from him. Tony follows the Bat along, curious as to how this was going to go given that the great Batman was a superhero with a secret identity.

“So have you met any other heroes kicking around these parts?” he asks to make conversation.

“I’ve met the Arrow, not fond. The Flash is too naïve but he has good intentions. Black Canary is useful in a fight but I’m not entirely sure she’s just one person, the Canary seems different every time I run into her,” the Bat says in that same gruff voice from before. _Boring._

“Arrow is green Robin Hood, which means he looses major cool points. You dressing like a bat means you are hands down the shittiest dressed hero _ever_ though.” So not cool on any level, and more than a little weird.

Batman spins back around, “you dress in a soup can painted red and gold,” he counters.

“Yeah, but I look good in the suit, and out of it too,” Tony shoots back with a grin.

“I’ve been told I’m attractive,” Batman says back.

“Oh _yeah_ , must be the pointy ears and inexplicable ab plates on your armor,” Tony says, giving Batman’s fake shredded stomach a doubtful look.

“You are infuriating,” Batman mumbles at him.

“You kidnaped me, you deal with the consequences.”

*

Batman eventually releases him out of the Batcave but not after deleting all his pictures, not that it mattered. Tony was smart enough to think ahead and he sent them all to Rhodey as soon as he snapped them because the Bat, he learned, was observant. The last thing he expects, though, is a squeal of delight and a blonde in his arms kissing him. Not that he was complaining, obviously.

“ _Harley_ ,” Batman says, disapproval written clearly in his tone.

The blonde pulls away looking sheepish, “I was just sayin’ hello,” she says in her own defense.

“You can definitely continue, the probably the warmest welcome I’ve ever gotten,” Tony says, grinning. The blonde grins back, looking pleased with herself and that’s when Tony recognizes her.

Rhodey was never going to believe he made out with Harley Quinn, Gotham’s finest villain’s crazy girlfriend. And a pretty nasty villain herself. So _why_ was she in Batman’s house kissing strangers?

Harley checks him out in a pretty suggestive way, “later, honey. You’re _cute_.” Tony had no clue if he was about to take her up on that, but to be fair if he actually ran into her boyfriend earlier she could do way better than that twit. He was marginally better.

“Absolutely not,” Batman says, shaking his head sharply.

Harley rolls her eyes, “he’s tryin’ to rehabilitate me and he thinks that that means he can tell me what to do,” she says, bursting into inexplicable laughter.

“My house, my rules,” Batman says petulantly.

“Okay well you kidnapped me so I feel like I should get a little sexual freedom,” Tony says in his own defense.

“You _kidnapped_ him? Naughty,” Harley says, shaking her head at him. Then something seems to click and her eyes brighten immediately, “you’re Iron Man! Ohh, I’ve always wanted to sleep with Iron Man!”

Tony preens, “thanks. I’ve never thought about sleeping with you but I’m down for that,” he says happily.

“Well I don’t disappoint,” Harley says, winking.

“That is never going to happen,” Batman interrupts.

“Aww, are you jealous Brucie?” Harley asks, batting her eyelashes at him.

“ _Harley_!” Batman- apparently named ‘Bruce’- yells.

Harley leans over to him and grins, “he’s Bruce Wayne,” she says, giggling when this draws an annoyed noise out of Bruce. “What? He was gunna find out anyways unless you were gunna walk around dressed in that awful costume all day and night. And that’s a real shame because you’re hot too,” Harley chirps.

“One of Gotham’s most notorious villains knows who you are?” Tony asks, disapproval clear in his voice.

“Everyone knows who you are,” Bruce points out.

“Point.” He wasn’t doing very good job at being sassier than his companions, he needed up his game.

“He’s just grumpy because I gave away his secret identity again,” Harley says. Bruce doesn’t look impressed and Tony figures if nothing else Harley was going to make his life here fun.

*

Bruce collects people he thinks need help, Tony learns, hence Harley’s presence and a handful of Robins he’s had in the past. He picked up Tony because he thought that he would be somehow unable to take care of himself in Gotham, which Tony decides not to resent because that dipshit with the green hair _did_ get the jump on him but Tony had him. Harley also said that he saw the good in people too, and could see when they were lost. If that was true Tony supposed that was why he was in Gotham, no other city needed someone who knew how to find the good more.

“You’ve been here for a week and I haven’t see you call or text anyone. Don’t you have someone who cares that you’re gone?” Bruce asks, sneaking up on Tony.

“I have people. Person. He’s got his own shit right now but we talk, just not usually when you’re around.” Bruce was a surprisingly social guy between his company that was doing surprisingly well considering it’s location, his time as Batman, and his attempt at trying to reform Harley that was mostly just her hanging out in his house and watching movies with him. Tony wondered how much sleep he got on any given day considering he was nearly always out.

Bruce raises an eyebrow, “are you sure?” he asks and tony rolls his eyes.

“Yeah I’m pretty sure Rhodey exists. What are you doing here anyways, don’t you have some event to go to?” he asks. Or a Harley to reform, but he doesn’t mention that. Last Tony say her she was making Poison Ivy themed cupcakes and enjoying herself. Bruce tended to leave her alone when she was doing stuff like that.

“Not all of my time is taken up by my various… activities. Have the Avengers not contacted you?” he asks.

“No,” Tony says simply. They’ve both seen the news, they both knew they were active and that hurt to know. Tony wanted to feel like he was better off but he wasn’t sure that was true. They might not have been his favorite people but at least he wasn’t alone.

“You used to make the Avengers’ gear right?” Bruce asks after a long moment and Tony nods. “I could use the help with my own stuff, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Tony doesn’t mean to react but he was _bored_ here with nothing to do and even Harley was loosing her luster. “Yeah I uh... yeah I can take a look at things, see if anything stands out,” he says, trying to go for casual but it comes out like he was trying to mute out excitement.

Bruce smiles and he’s unfairly attractive, “fantastic, thank you.”

*

Bruce notices the difference immediately. Tony was listless and bored much like Harley was a lot of the time but now he had something to focus on. He’s heard of Tony’s genius of course but he’s always been a planner, meticulous in nature, so Tony Stark had no appeal to him. He was too wild and reckless and willing to damage things just to find the mystery of them. Bruce liked to think himself subtler than that though Alfred might disagree.

What he didn’t expect was for Tony and Harley to sort of… bond with each other. He knew about Harley’s past, something she confessed one day after reading one too many scathing articles about herself. It had insulted one of her favored outfits as of late for being skimpy, which was true, but having fought with her Bruce knew the outfit gave her a range of motion and given her skill she didn’t necessarily need the protection of a suit. She also didn’t care of she got hurt and that worried him. She had set the article aside though and told him she’s a genius, that she used to be a psychiatrist before the Joker.

She had only wanted to help him, she said, but something went wrong. She was far more aware of her unhealthy dynamic with the man than Bruce thought she would be and he had scolded himself for it. The Joker, he was an awful man and he was diabolical, but Harley was just as smart and she was far, _far_ more efficient at hurting people and not just in physical ways. But she was good too; Bruce could see that even if Harley had a hard time with it. She liked to distract people and it was easy for her to do- her favorite method was sex. Tony, he learns, had similar methods of distraction and it became almost amusing to watch Harley make a comment that hit too close to home with Harley only for him to pull her own sexual tricks on her. She did the same with him and the interesting result was that they became far more aware of their behaviors.

They played off each other frequently, managing to get just a bit too close and then pulling some distraction method to keep the other away but only succeeding in highlighting what was wrong with the way they dealt with their problems. Harley had at least learned other methods of distraction when she realized Bruce wasn’t going to be distracted by sex or hurtful comments. She liked to bake, read, and sometimes she drew things. Recently she started experimenting with paints and the art was awful, but Harley wasn’t much of a quitter so Bruce figured she’d improve at some point.

Tony though, he had nothing and his only distraction- Harley- was quickly loosing ground. Bruce hadn’t planned on taking him in but he something told him that Tony needed the help and he long ago learned never to ignore his instincts so he brought Tony back with him on a whim. Had he taken the time to research like he normally would have he might have found a way to get through to Tony sooner, but the idea to let him have access to technologies that Bruce hadn’t figured out himself yet was a stroke of genius. Tony was immersed immediately and Bruce was more than impressed with his ability to create. More than that he managed to rope Harley into it too, showing her how to understand the things he made.

Harley picked up on it quickly and it was clear that Tony enjoyed teaching, enjoyed the way Harley would pick up on a new concept and play it back for confirmation of correctness. Bruce also noticed the way people reacted to Tony’s tech too, the strange amount of fear that it brought when word got out that Batman managed to get ahold of elusive Stark tech. Bruce wondered what made Tony’s tech more fear driven than his own but he wasn’t going to question the results. If villains were afraid than good, it was high time Gotham stopped having an early curfew.

He worried, though, that Tony focused too much on his creations. He noticed the way the man hardly slept before, but after getting access to his technology Tony slept far less than he did before and Harley was quickly adopting the unhealthy sleeping patterns. For now, though, he supposed that Tony was happier and from here he’d try and figure out how to reform Tony Stark.

*

“You don’t sleep much,” Bruce notes one night after he’d been up for a few hours too long.

“Neither do you,” Tony points out.

“I sleep enough,” Bruce says quietly, stepping into Tony’s room. “You don’t. By my estimations your sleeping habits have got to be taking a toll on you.”

“By my estimations if you sleep for more than a few hours a week I’d be shocked. That isn’t even _possible_ for a baseline and I know you aren’t enhanced. Maybe you should worry about your own sleep issues instead of mine if you want to be saving Gotham. With all the tech you operate and the kinds of villains you take on you can’t risk being sleep deprived.” Tony knew what sleep deprivation did to you in the field and if Bruce wasn’t feeling the affects of his too busy lifestyle he was lying to himself. The fact that nothing has come of it was nothing more than sheer luck honestly.

Bruce shakes his head, “this isn’t about me. This is about you, and I’m worried that you aren’t sleeping enough.”

“Well maybe I’m worried about you too,” Tony says. He knew what kind of condition the Bat suits came back in, he’s been charged with fixing quite a few of them recently. “My sleeping habits don’t matter, I’m not out risking my neck to try and keep some surprisingly nasty villains considering their stupid nicknames at bay. You can’t run a company full time, be a hero, have a social life, and have a family too. It isn’t possible; take it from someone who knows. I’ve _been_ where you are and I couldn’t do it. That’s why Pepper is the CEO of my company now. Something had to give and that was the only thing I was willing to give up.” He loved his company, but he could be involved in different ways that were less time consuming.

Bruce stands there for a long moment, frowning at something before he walks off, leaving Tony to wonder what the hell just happened.

*

“People think I’m stupid but I’m not,” Harley says, looking up from painting her toes nails.

“I know. Most people don’t understand the things I’ve taught you. You must make one nasty villain and honestly I’m glad that I don’t have to fight you off,” Tony tells her. She must be fucking terrifying in action considering how intelligent she was. Tony more than anyone knew how that could add to a fight. Thor was a good example of how intelligence made all the difference. More than once Tony has watched him stop what he was doing mid fight as he figured out the strategy the other side was using and adjust accordingly. Steve and Natasha did that too but they were a lot more subtle about it than Thor. He didn’t really do subtle.

“Yeah, but people don’t see that stuff,” Harley says, “they just see my shorts or my Puddin and they think I’m stupid.”

Puddin, the name she gave the Joker. Tony gathered that he was _quite_ the character, and he wasn’t that dumbass with ‘damaged’ written on his forehead. Turns out that actually was a cheap knock off. The real Joker was actually a pretty terrifying villain. “People don’t like to look past their own assumptions,” Tony says. He’s been living that out his whole damn life.

“I always go back. I know I will again, it’s just what I do. Maybe people are right to think I’m stupid for staying in a relationship like that,” she says sadly. Tony doesn’t need her to spell it out to know she means going back to the Joker.

“You love him,” he states obviously. There was no question there; her care for the man was obvious.

Harley shrugs, “maybe I shouldn’t. Actually I know I shouldn’t. if I were still a professional I’d tell myself to fun for my life. But I’m not Harleen anymore, probably never was. All I wanted was to be normal and I couldn’t even get _that_ right,” she mumbles.

It was weird to see Harley so down when she was usually bordering on manic all the time. Actually it was flat out unnerving. “My father… he was shitty to me, always was. Nothing I did was ever good enough, he was always on my ass, he’d beat me if I ever stepped out of line, which was always. He was… he was killed when I was seventeen,” Tony says, barely managing to keep his voice from breaking. “For most of my adult life I tried _so hard_ to try and honor his memory, I tried so hard that one day I realized that I _became_ him. I used to hate him when he was alive but it was like once he was gone all I could see was the good in him and I wanted to make that bit of goodness that I could see in him proud, to do right by him. Maybe that’s what you have with your guy. Love is a fucked up thing sometimes.”

Harley concentrates on her toes for a long moment before she speaks again. “I never met anyone who understood that before. I know he’s a bad man but I can see something else there too. Is it so wrong to want to see the good in someone?” she asks softly.

Tony shakes his head, “no. But seeing the good in someone should never mean that you have to give up a piece of yourself.” He wished someone told him that when he was a kid and feeling guilty. Harley doesn’t say anything to that and Tony doubts he got through to her but that’s fine. She was a smart woman; she’d walk away when she was ready to.

*

Harley used to be a psychiatrist so she knew fucked up when she saw it, not that she would have needed that training to see Tony’s problems. He wasn’t very subtle about his issues and they affected nearly everything he did. For the first time in a long time she felt compelled to help someone like she used to want to, to help figure them out and give them the tools they needed to live again.

She became a psychiatrist because her father was a villain too and she wanted to understand how someone could be like that. She wanted to know how a person could be so cruel but now that she was a villain herself she saw the appeal, felt the thrill of breaking the rules and not having to answer for it. Tony told her once that being a hero gave him the same thrill she described, minus the breaking the rules part and she wondered if that was true. She’d ask Bruce but she knew he’d never answer her.

Bruce… he was a different kind of messed up. He was so put together; so capable of compartmentalizing his problems like she used to do. She knew what high functioning mental illness looked like because she _was_ that person once upon a time. Bruce was so interesting though and she couldn’t help but watch is morbid curiosity as Bruce slowly tried to integrate himself into Tony’s life like he had with her while also trying to keep a distance. With her it was easy, she didn’t want to let him in anymore than he wanted to be there so she took his clumsy attempts at charity and he happily got to remain separate from her personal life. Tony wasn’t so easy though and he got under the skin. He was clever and observant, intelligent and formidable.

Batman wasn’t going to be able to help Tony Stark without being Bruce Wayne too and she watched as it ate away at Bruce slowly. Tony didn’t even know what he was doing, giving Bruce new designs for his Batsuit. Bruce was the one who let him in, but when Tony took it upon himself to start caring about the man who used the technology as much as the tech itself Bruce didn’t know how to react. Tony remains blissfully unaware and that was the real beauty of it all. Harley was used to selfishness and cruelty and here a man was making new Batsuits for a guy that picked him up out of an ally one night because he was worried about his safety even though he was the damsel in distress. Ain’t that sweet?

Alfred noticed too and the man looked ready to exploit Bruce’s new weakness too. Harley, well, she knew how a mind worked and Bruce has been helpful to her. It was only fair that she help a guy out.

*

Tony looks at the pictures in Bruce’s huge library, noting that his parents disappear around age seven. “You scare him, you know,” someone- Alfred- says. Tony saw surprisingly little of the butler despite apparently being very involved in Bruce’s life but Tony didn’t mention it.

“Scare him how? We hardly talk,” he points out.

Alfred laughs softly, “you scare him with your passion, your drive. He is not used to being the recipient of such actions,” he says.

“Someone needs to make him more efficient Batsuits without bad abs worked into them.” All those would do was bruise the shit out of his stomach when he landed on his stomach or got punched there. Given that that was often Tony took it upon himself to redesign something with more durability while still retaining the flexibility he’d need to fight crime bat style and also not die due to shitty design. It was basically charity work.

“That someone is typically himself, Mr. Stark, and it frightens Bruce that he accidentally gave permission to someone else to look after him. I understand it, he lost his family young and it has traumatized him but he needs to grow away from that trauma. So please continue doing what you’re doing,” Alfred says.

They lapse into silence after that, looking at Bruce’s family pictures together in a way that was surprisingly comfortable.

*

“Hey,” Bruce says, appearing at his door looking tired, “Harley said you needed something?”

Tony frowns because he didn’t need anything. “Uh, I think she might have told you a lie but you need to sit down,” he says. He walks over to Bruce, who tries to pull away but he doesn’t succeed really. He lets Tony lead him to the bed somewhat grudgingly and sits down. “How did the suit hold up?” he asks, scanning Bruce for signs of pain and hurt. All he found was bone deep exhaustion.

“Good. Great, actually. I can see why the Avengers are panicking without you around,” he says, yawning loudly. Tony raises an eyebrow in question because he didn’t know what Bruce was talking about. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? Rogers tracked you down a week or so ago, asking me if I could convince you to come back. He’s good I’ll give him that, but thankfully he’s not good enough to have found my real identity. He found me as Batman.”

“I’m assuming you told him you wouldn’t do that but why?” he asks.

Bruce takes a moment to stretch and yawn again, “because of what you told me, about your parents. If he wanted to work with a team than he should have known never to play with your feelings like that. Especially not if you were necessary to his operations,” Bruce says like this is obvious.

“You told Captain America to consider my feelings if he wanted my services?” Tony asks, not sure if he was hearing this right.

Bruce looks up at him with a surprising amount of fire in his eyes, “he didn’t tell you for _years_ about how your parents died because of his own selfish agenda. People like that are cowards, not heroes,” Bruce says harshly.

Tony considers this for a moment before sighing, “you know as much as I hate what he did I understand why. It was his best friend,” Tony says softly, wondering what he would do if it was Rhodey in Barns’ place. He wasn’t sure he’d keep that kind of thing to himself, but that was because he knew first hand that did more harm than good.

“That doesn’t matter. A real hero would have set his own feelings aside for the betterment of someone else’s life, that’s what we _do_. And then he abandoned you because you what? Felt something knowing your parents were _murdered_? That doesn’t sit right with me,” Bruce says, shaking his head.

Surprised with the amount of passion in that Tony doesn’t say anything for a few long moments. “Why did you take me in?” he asks.

Bruce considers his words before speaking. “I didn’t know you were there, that you needed help. It was the anniversary of my parents’ death and you were in the ally they died in, you were lying on the spot I watched my mother die on. It was like a sign so I took you in thinking that I could help you. Why’d you stay?” he asks.

Tony sits down gently on the bed beside Bruce, “because for the first time in a long time I felt useful, like I was helping. And you always seemed to appreciate my work, and Harley is a quick study. Just… people see me as this emotionally stunted jackass without feelings that doesn’t care about anyone but himself and here I didn’t feel like that.” It felt nice to say out loud to someone who wasn’t Rhodey. He did his best but he was one man against Tony’s lifetime of issues. There was only so much he could do.

“You can’t lack emotions and only care about yourself, that’s contradictory. Besides, your work is impressive and it’s been useful to me. Of course I would appreciate that. And I also appreciate that you aren’t the person the press and even your former team make you out to be. You’re so much more than you know,” Bruce says meaningfully.

Tony huffs out a laugh and gently bumps his shoulder into Bruce’s, “you too you know. People think Bruce Wayne is a pretty boy with just enough brains to get lucky in business, and just enough issues to be distant emotionally. You aren’t though. You took in one of Gotham’s most prolific villains just because you thought she could do better- that’s a lot of emotion for a person who probably didn’t deserve it when you extended your hand to help her. All I did was lay in the right ally at the right time and you took me in. And the Batman thing, I can’t imagine caring about a city so much that I’d dress up in your ridiculous getup to try and fix it. You’re a good man.” Tony hoped that some day everyone else could see what he saw too.

“You design the costumes now, if you think they’re ridiculous than it’s your design flaw,” Bruce points out and Tony starts laughing.

“You chose the bat persona, I’m just working with what you gave me,” Tony says in his own defense.

“Sure, Tony,” Bruce says, laughing softly.

**Author's Note:**

> [My writing Tumblr](https://tenspencerriedplease.tumblr.com/)


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